Markey challenged the executives to pledge to invest 10 percent of their profits to develop renewable energy and give up $18 billion in tax
breaks over 10 years so money could be funneled to support other energy and conservation.

They responded that their companies already are spending on alternative energy projects and argued that new taxes would dampen investment and could
lead to even higher prices.

These guys are amazing. The top oil companies earned a meager $123,000,000,000 last year. How can they possibly expect to turn a profit without
juicing the tax payer for an additional $18,000,000,000 in tax breaks.

A guy has got to make a buck right?

I want to know why they refuse to make any more refineries. Well, I know why, but I want to hear their excuse. It all feels like a smoke screen to
me. I seriously doubt anything will come of it.

maybe they should boycott oil and look somewhere else for gas. There's Hemp, corn (i think), nuclear power. i dont know anymore. they should use hemp
for gas. It would really be good for the enviroment.

Starred flagged, the last time Congress brought these monsters to the table they demanded some type of immunity or non binding thigamajig.
Talk about being bent over the proverbial barrel and sodomised with wild abandon. If we put the 400 billion (2 trillion?, nobody knows for sure! half
of it has gone missing anyway) of the war/occupation effort, the 18billion in oil profits (probably a low figure) we could be windfarmed, solar panel
on every roof, tidal energy tricked out. And everyone would drive an American made Prius. Makes me want to PUKE!

GM, Ford had their opportunities to make fuel efficient vehicles, but they haven't, because they are big oils beyatch. My bad, not 18 billion
profits, those are ONLY the tax breaks! Moogaly Googaly....grrrrrrrr. Oh this is rich, I am just now listening to wtam, 3 times the amount of oil
actually used 'every day' is speculated upon that drives up prices...never even expecting to take posession of. I say we put them in a nice big
holding tank, and take posession of it. I can hear it now in Congress, BP, what is 'is'. Shell, we're just a little Dutch industry. It's like
someone with an immense growth on their face saying 'oh that', it's just a mole. There are some things that just make me want to go bug f nuclear,
and this is one of them.

heck, all they would have to do is increase their upper managment's salary by a few more hundred more million or so each....and they could be
operating on a loss now!!
what a great way to decrease your tax burden.....give the money to your buddies in the company, no, not those other employess...to your buddies who
are already making so much that most of their income isn't being taxed by social security!! it can be written off as an expense, so it keeps your
"profits down" and well...they're your buddies, they'll always lend you some back if you need it!

If I were an oil company executive, I'd give up that $18 billion tax break at the same time that the government gives up its gasoline tax on
consumers.

Con-gress doesn't give a rat's behind about consumers, they know that what the oil companies are saying is true. The oil companies made $123
billion because they have a huge volume of sales ($1.4 TRILLION). Compare that 8% profit margin to the 20% in the pharmaceutical industry.

Mind you, I have no sympathy for the oil companies, but this is all about one thing: a bunch of Democrats trying to whip up anger against the
public's favorite whipping boy going into an election cycle. They're not going to do ANYTHING because the oil companies pour too much money into
the government's coffers. Its a load of crap, a show, meant for public consumption.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Good post. You also bring up a good point about pharmaceutical companies. Why aren't they being brought
before congress for their price gouging on the poison that they push?

Hey, it's not just pharmaceuticals. It's the medical industry in general. I used to work for a medical distribution company. We would sell a box of
100 count syringe needles for .60. I received an itemized bill from the doctors office one time where they charged me 12.00 for that needle. We sold
urinal bottles for roughly .60 a piece the hospital charged 23.00. That is a stagering mark up. I would imagine that the petroleum companies are no
different.

I don't understand the hatred for the oil companies. I'm sure you would be upset also if the government was going to take away all your tax breaks.

It is not the oil companies fault that we as a nation use so much oil. The oil companies are making their profits from volume of sales and not from
over pricing their product. In fact, 'big oil' only makes like 8 cents profit per gallon. If you want to decrease gas prices, talk to your state
reps about reducing taxes they impose per gallon of gas. This also applies to the federal taxes on gas.

Someone mentioned building refineries. Yes, that definitely must happen but it is not the oil companies who are preventing this from happening. The
problem is all the environmental nonesense which is preventing the building of new refineries. The same can be said for nuclear power and clean coal
technologies.

You seem to be missing one fact. The oil companies are not becoming stinking rich because we use so much, we always have. They are getting stinking
rich because they are raping us at the pumps. What are they gonna do with all that money once they've bankrupted all the businesses and people and
there is nothing left to buy? I suppose they can burn it for heat or wipe their tushies with it because that's all it will be worth.

If you truly worked in the healthcare industry then you should understand that the hospitals are not posting record profits. The reason that they have
to charge so much for supplies is that they have to cover the cost of the bazillion people who have no insurance and use the ER as a free walk-in
clinic (which is also why everyone has to wait 6 to 12 hours to be seen in an ER unless its life threatening). They also have to cover excessive
liability costs due to all the ambulance chasing attorneys that run the costs up.

Yeah this whole thing grosses me out but like a previous poster said this whole show was a dog and pony show nothing will ever get done. The fact is
everyone in that room who acted like they were grilling the execs have already been paid off. That 124 Billion in profits could of been a much much
higher number what people dont bring up it without the huge pay for all these execs and their good old boys and the other luxurious items and
government payoffs that goes on the business tabs they would be at $130 to 140 billion...frankly these guys are making so much money they cant spend
it all but they do try meanwhile real people are struggling.

I just think the big irony is this is all happening under Bushes watch whos a big oil man.

Well defcon, show me a dirt poor doctor. Show me one. These jokers are no different than the oil tycoons. The costs of most people that have no
insurance is a rediculous arguement. People would not need insurance if the doctors were not raping everyone up front.

I think it's obvious that if the current three running for president don't prioritize these same issues, then they are obviously afraid of the choke
hold big oil has on this countries economy. Even the news media seems to down play this topic and it goes away pretty quick.

We aren't addicted to oil as much as they're addicted to greed. These guys wouldn't jump ship without their black gold if their childrens and their
own lives depended on it. There has to be free energy and similar alternatives as competition to force them down to our level.

When Chavez nationalized oil companies, other countries thought this was the wrong thing to do? I think if anything this should be done at the very
least in a competitive way. For now it seems obvious who dictates and controls the government. I don't want to hear about oil being the lifes blood
of this country either. For all we know, the government really runs these big oil companies.

These people cry about tax breaks like a prositute or drug dealers corner.
If it wasn't for the current monetary system, we wouldn't have this problem.

This right here tells me you have never really worked in the business. Do you have any idea how many doctors have gone out of business in the last few
years? I have personally worked for several medical companies that are just scrapping by over the last 7 years. You know what Medicaid pays? Obviously
not… You realize that businesses cannot turn away Medicaid patients, and the government will pay almost nothing for the services provided to them,
then to make matters worse they will sue at the drop of a pin? Do you understand that illegal immigrants and people with no insurance cannot be turned
away from a hospital, and use them for mundane medical care that should be taken to a walk-in clinic because they can get away with not paying
anything? Do you realize that most private doctors are affiliated with hospitals and have to treat those patients for free?

Everytime someone comes up with a viable alternative to gasoline, representatives from these same big oil companies show up to squash it by...

A. Offering a huge sum of money to get the competition to shut up

Or...

B. Making the competition disappear completely (by killing)

We could all have electric cars right now, as the combustion engine is outdated. These big oil companies are really taking a gamble, though, because
the truckers may go out of business the higher the prices go. Additionally, people are going to start looking for alternatives themselves rather than
relying on someone else.

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